Reason for shroud of secrecy

Reason for shroud of secrecy

BEFORE the Malaysian Government rushes to introduce new regulations requiring converts to Islam to inform their families before embracing the religion, it must introduce every practical precaution necessary to protect the welfare and well-being of the new converts.

One of the primary reasons that deter a potential convert from informing his or her family is antagonism against the proposed course of action.

There are many reported instances where would-be converts were subject to severe psychological harassment and physical assaults to discourage them from embracing Islam. There were even cases where potential and actual converts were brutally murdered for daring to go against the collective wishes of their family and community.

It is often to avoid such unpleasant consequences that many convert in secret. The real problem here lies with their family and community who refuse to acknowledge and respect the potential convert’s aspiration to embrace Islam.

By resorting to violence and other forms of intimidation to deter them from becoming Muslims, they leave the potential converts little choice but to carry out their faith under a shroud of total secrecy.

Blame must also be shared by the Islamic authorities, the police and other relevant agencies for failing to provide adequate protection to these potential converts. Therefore, it is imperative the Government irons out these complications before enacting the new regulations.

MOHAMED SIRAJUDIN,

Penang.

I think the author need to backup his claim that converts are brutally murdered and I do hope that he could see things from a different perspective. Otherwise, he will just be another Muslim with a perverted sense of justice.

Allow me to rewrite the above article from the perspective of a non-Muslim so as to provide a more balance view

Reasons for the controversies in conversion

BEFORE the Malaysian Government rushes to introduce new regulations requiring converts from Islam (apostate) to inform their families before leaving the religion, it must introduce every practical precaution necessary to protect the welfare and well-being of the apostate and his/her family.

One of the primary reasons that deter a potential apostate from informing his or her family is antagonism against the proposed course of action that is due to the fact that this will bring shame to the family and the apostate. In addition apostacy is not permitted by law of the land and is a crime punishable by jail. It is indeed laughable that in Malaysia, one is not an apostate until the government decide you are one. The apostate will have a torturous life since it is legally permissible to confine an apostate in Islamic Rehabilitation Camp for an indefinite period or until the would be apostate INSAF (repent).

There are many reported instances where apostates were subject to severe psychological harassment and physical assaults to discourage them from leaving. The apostate’s family are also subjected to various shameful taunts and interviews from the media. There were even cases where potential and actual apostate were brutally murdered for daring to go against the collective wishes of their family and community.

It is often to avoid such unpleasant consequences that many leave Islam secret. Some choose to leave the country. The real problem here lies with their family, community and the government who refuse to acknowledge and respect the apostate aspiration to leave Islam and profess a new faith.

By resorting to violence and other forms of intimidation and instituting law and regulations to deter and prevent them from renouncing Islam, they leave the apostate little choice but to carry out their new found faith under a shroud of total secrecy.

Blame must also be shared by the Islamic authorities, the police and other relevant agencies for conducting various forms of re-education cum confinement camps (read : brain washing) instead of providing adequate protection to these apostate. Therefore, it is imperative the Government irons out these complications to save the country from being embroiled with more controversies the future.

KakiaYam,

Selangor.

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Backup his claim? Well, there was a reported case of an entire Hindu family in Selangor who were massacred for converting to Islam and their bodies stowed away in a container. For obvious reasons, this gruesome report never made into the mainstream media. But it is well known among the authorities and other Islamic organizations.

Bro. Sirajudin was only speaking from a Muslim’s point of view in defending the rights of his hapless brethrens in faith. He is obviously genuinely concern of their wellbeing. Nothing perverted about that, I’m sure.

Harris, do send me a link about the ‘reported’ tragic incident. Have spend quite an amount of precious time searching for such a report. Afaik, muslims in m’sia would not in anyway keep quiet if the said massacre has indeed taken place. In fact the reverse is always true. I understand the censorship in the mainstream media, but in this era, censoring of information is almost impossible.

Hopefully, Sirajudin was not mentioning something that has happened years ago. If he did, then it will be a endless cycle of quoting various massacres by Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and maybe even Buddhists.

Well, to a certain extent it does seems nothing perverted in defending brothers of the same faith. But my concern is whether he feels the same for those who are discriminated against by the Jabatan Agama for renouncing Islam.

In M’sia, the gov will accept a mualaf the moment a letter from Jabatan Agama are produced. The only thing the mualaf has to face is the family and extended families. How hard is that? Considering you have the full protection of the police and plenty of new brothers/sisters ready to provide help, both in financial and spiritual…..

As for an apostate, anything short of leaving the country will mean great harm with jail and endless rehab camp to be endured….you should know better than me where all these will leads or ends.

And to this is not a possibility but a certainty…

For all the universal justice and fairness that Sirajudin is screaming for his brothers in faith, did he for once, speak out for those that are renouncing Islam?

The author do not have to think long and hard to realise a simple fact that the letter he should write is not that of (non-institutionalised) discrimination against mualaf, but rather the various discrimination faced by apostates that are legal, permitted and encouraged in our country.

IMHO, he does not write and think fairly. Perhaps I may have use too strong a phrase to describe people like the author to be perverted. Maybe a more appropriate label would be people that are having a ‘lopsided compassion to a selected group of people’ for any reasons.

It’s hopeless to search for online links related to that report. There are none for it has been kept out of public domain. But I have seen the photos of the victims and it has been confirmed by senior authorities who don’t wish to bring this matter to public discourse, simply out of fear that it may trigger severe backlash on certain community.

He also confided in me there are other such cases that are being kept under wraps so as not to jeopardize national unity. Perhaps you should check with your Muslim friends who may be able to confirm it. A discreet enquiry might yield nuggets.

Admittedly apostasy remains a highly controversial and divided issue in the Muslim world. There are numerous shades of opinion ranging from the orthodoxy to the most liberal. Perhaps, the link below will shed some light:

yeap, as with many other religions, there will be many interpretations on certain issues causing divisions among them. I will read the articles in the link, thank you.

But having said that, I suspect I would not be any wiser reading these articles. Muslims, just like followers of other religions will always ‘choose’ the one that suits them best or the one that receives the most support.

As for the massacre claim, i will have to assume that it was some rumour spread by irresponsible parties, until I am convinced otherwise.

Malaysian government and the police has never demonstrate a high EQ in dealing with issues at hand, however urgent and serious it seems to be. 😛

As for asking muslim friends, well, my many years of experience tells me that the typical malay muslim mind can be easily manipulated. I am absolutely sorry in saying this, but take this as my own personal opinion.

There are many instances where they believe things so easily, without analysing it in a critical manner. They usually believe anything that they read in the web, utusan malaysia, sms and email.

Recently, my colleague forwarded me an email in Bahasa telling about the history of April 1st celebration. It seems that April 1st is celebrated for being the day where Christians invaded Spain slaughtered and rape many Muslims there. Hate mail like this gets propagated again and again, from one campus to another, and the surprise is none of them actually question the validity of the claim and yet will not hesitate to mass send to everyone in their address list.

None of them bother to just google and check for it’s truthfulness… Needless to say, I provide him with all the links from Islamic websites detailing this hoax and gave him an earful of spreading rumours unnecessarily.

Another colleague describe May 13 in an isolated scenario of a cinema. While the movie was running half way, Chinese wording appears and in a short moment, all the Chinese pull out their parangs and slaughtered all the Malays in the Cinema. My first question is on what possibilities that Chinese words could be easily displayed? Second, what possibilities would the chinese who happen to be in the Cinema for movies would bring parangs into the cinema?

And this is is told to my colleague during her secondary school days by the teacher!

Having write so much about the easily manipulate mind of Malays, I have to agree that the Chinese will believe something similar too! whoa haha!

Indeed, God made man to be equal, having the same strength and displaying similar traits (divisive, chauvinistic, etc,etc)